One of the reasons for the restlessness of many Christians is undoubtedly a mentality that revels in statistics. They are given the utmost importance. So much has already been counted in the Christian world! Attendance at Sunday Mass, baptisms, communions, priestly and religious vocations, etc.! Everything has succumbed to statistics and upward graphs! Certainly, these are useful data for understanding and are valuable for those who know how to use them. The risk is assigning them disproportionate importance compared to the deep movement that enlivens God's people and which can never be captured by numbers. When David wanted to count his subjects in the Old Testament, God severely punished him for it. And when Gideon went to battle against the Midianites with an army he considered strong, God challenged him to send most of them home. Because when it comes to the Kingdom of God, it is never the number that matters, but a certain hidden quality, rarely visible outwardly and certainly never corresponding to quantity.
(André Louf, OCSO /1929–2010/, book interview "In God's Grace")
